Review of Khartoum (1966) by Jordan R — 06 Mar 2008

A spiritual successor to 1961's "Lawrence of Arabia," and historically, the events of this film led up to those that Colonel Lawrence dealt with. I would say that in many ways it's more satisfying than "Lawrence," since the battles that are quite clearly so important to our hero are actually shown, and the ending is much less of a letdown.

Remarkably historically accurate for a Hollywood production, of manageable length (as opposed to contemporaneous epics like "Ben-Hur" or "Lawrence"), and filled with well-done battle scenes (they're not afraid of blood, but they draw the line a lot futher out than filmmakers today). Fine marks all across the board - the dialogue, the sets, the acting (though Heston is a bit weak on suggesting internal conflict - the man's a born All-American hero). This one seems particularly topical, given the nature of geopolitics today.

High points: The battles, which are intense and well-done and are possible to follow (unlike so many other film conflicts), and the scene based on George William Joy's painting "General Gordon's Last Stand.".